SQL Server 2017 Developer s Guide: A professional guide to designing and developing enterprise database applications

Build smarter and efficient database application systems for your organization with SQL Server 2017

• Explore the development features of SQL Server 2017 to build database applications
• Work with temporal tables to get information about data stored in a table at any point of time
• Use adaptive querying to enhance the performance of your queries

Microsoft SQL Server 2017 is a milestone in Microsoft's data platform timeline, as it integrates the power of R and Python for machine learning and containerization-based deployment on Windows and Linux.

This book starts with a quick introduction to the new features of SQL Server 2017 to help you get up and running with its latest features. You’ll be introduced to the enhancements in Transact-SQL and new database engine capabilities before advancing to JSON support. This guide will also take you through security improvements and enable you to work efficiently with temporal tables. You’ll then delve into advanced topics such as Query Store, columnstore indexes, and In-Memory OLTP. Toward the end of the book, you'll delve into R and discover how to use the R language with Transact-SQL for data exploration and analysis. You'll also learn how to integrate Python code into SQL Server, understand graph database implementations, and explore the flexibility of containers for development and testing.

By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to design efficient high-performance database applications with SQL 2017 easily.

• Explore the latest development features in SQL Server 2017
• Identify opportunities for In-Memory OLTP technology
• Use columnstore indexes for storage and performance improvements
• Exchange JSON data between applications and SQL Server
• Encrypt or mask data using new security features
• Control access to data on row levels
• Discover the potential of R and Python integration
• Model complex relationships with graph databases in SQL Server 2017

Database developers and solution architects looking to design efficient database applications using SQL Server 2017 will find this book useful. Also, if you’re an advanced analysis practitioner, business intelligence developer, or a database consultant dealing with performance tuning, this book is for you.

Basic understanding of database concepts and T-SQL will assist with understanding key concepts covered in this book.

1. Introduction to SQL Server 2017 9Introduction to SQL Server 2017
2. Review of SQL Server Features for Developers 23Review of SQL Server Features for Developers
3. SQL Server Tools 75SQL Server Tools
4. Transact-SQL and Database Engine Enhancements 115Transact-SQL and Database Engine Enhancements
5. JSON Support in SQL Server 187JSON Support in SQL Server
6. Stretch Database 241Stretch Database
7. Temporal Tables 289Temporal Tables
8. Tightening Security 353Tightening Security
9. Query Store 407Query Store
10. Columnstore Indexes 459Columnstore Indexes
11. Introducing SQL Server In-Memory OLTP 523Introducing SQL Server In-Memory OLTP
12. In-Memory OLTP Improvements in SQL Server 2017 557In-Memory OLTP Improvements in SQL Server 2017
13. Supporting R in SQL Server 593Supporting R in SQL Server
14. Data Exploration and Predictive Modeling with R 645Data Exploration and Predictive Modeling with R
15. Introducing Python 687Introducing Python
16. Graph Database 723Graph Database
17. Containers and SQL on Linux 767Containers and SQL on Linux